By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Gold futures resumed their downtrend on Tuesday, giving back a small chunk of their two-day gains ahead of a monetary-policy decision due from the Federal Reserve a day later.
In electronic trading, gold for February delivery GCG4 -0.88% dropped $3.30, or 0.3%, to $1,241.10 an ounce, while March silver SIH4 -1.52% was hit even harder, down 20 cents, or 1%, to $19.91 an ounce.
The decline follows two consecutive days of gains, with short-sellers covering their positions being cited as a driving factor. All of the action is in anticipation of what the central bank will decide to do with its bond-buying program.
“Tapering or no tapering, and if so by how much?” asked Emirates NBD’s head of commodities Gerhard Schubert, saying that it might be best to stay on the sidelines until the New Year.
“The latest weekly jobless number is pouring some icy cold water onto tapering expectations but that is a single number, which stands in strong contrast to the developments in the U.S. job market of the last four months,” he told clients in a note.
In other metals trading, January platinum PLF4 -0.53% lost 70 cents to $1,359.40 an ounce, while March palladium PAH4 -0.20% added $1.95, or 0.3%, to $718.30 an ounce. High-grade copper HGH4 -0.14% shed a penny to $3.32 a pound.
